The Vaguely Rude Places Map has had a minor behind-the-scenes update. Here, look at it in all its profane geospatial glory. Read more… (1 min remaining to read ..read more

This is part two of The Islands of the North Atlantic. In the first part of this occasional series of articles, I set the scene for what the United Kingdom is by tackling some common misconceptions of what the United Kingdom isn't. This is not the United Kingdom You're Looking For The Dis-united Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The Geographies of England - An Exercise in Complexity Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh Geographies - Simplicity not Complexity Crown Dependencies, Overseas Territories and the Commonwealth of Nations But the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther ..read more

It was back in February of 2009 that I first wrote about the complex and confusing geographies of the British Isles, the United Kingdom and many other terms of reference for the archipelago of islands that sit off of the north-west coast of Europe and that I call home. Since then, with one notable exception, I have found myself having the same conversations on this topic at pretty much every place I've worked at. So this is the first in a series of articles about the physical, political, administrative and other geographies of what's sometimes called the Islands of the North Atlantic, which s ..read more

As the post COVID brain fog slowly clear and I get around to doing stuff I really meant to do but either couldn't summon up the energy to or just plain forgot about; it's time to tackle the growing list of issues and pull requests on the Vaguely Rude Places Map GitHub repo. Read more… (1 min remaining to read ..read more

It's 2009 all over again. Or is it 2012? After a 2009 launch at SXSW, the much hyped location wars with Foursquare, Facebook Places and Google Latitude, acquisition by Facebook in 2011 and - to no one's surprise - shutting down in early 2012 ... Gowalla is back it seems. Original co-founder Josh Williams is back at the helm and back at SXSW with the new Gowalla which looks awfully like the original Gowalla, only iOS only this time, with no web prescence to speak of and no Android app in the works or even planned. But maybe things are different second time around. Rather than fighting it out ..read more

I first registered the vicchi.org domain name in April of 2001, mainly because at the time, someone else had got to garygale.com before me (though I managed to acquire that domain in July 2009) and there's been some form of website here every since. But this site has languished and seemingly unloved for a while. The last post was at the end of 2018 but actually the last time I really wrote something was ... heck, September 2015. It was time to fix that. Initially this site was early 2000's, hand crafted HTML. There was a brief excursion with Bloxsom in 2001, I think, but Perl and I have never ..read more

Today’s maps found on the interwebs. Measuring just 13 miles long by 2 miles wide, New York City’s most-famous borough has a well-earned reputation for shoebox-sized apartments, shoulder-to-shoulder subway commutes, and cubicle-farm high-rises. Though the US Census provides a cozy estimate of 1. Found at http://manpopex.us ..read more

Today’s maps found on the interwebs. Water moves in predictable ways across undulating landscapes, but it can be hard to appreciate from a human perspective on the ground. It’s much easier to understand when you’re essentially a giant hovering over the land with the ability to move mountains and make rain. Found at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/make-topographical-maps-in-a-sandbox ..read more

Today’s maps found on the interwebs. Before there were the continents, there was Pangea. Two hundred million years ago, the enormous land mass began to break apart and we’ve been separated ever since — but a map tool can help you find where a given town would have been on the supercontinent. Found at https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/17/17467686/map-pangea-earth-antipodes-science-history-tools ..read more

Today’s maps found on the interwebs. The first modern atlas was created in the late 16th century, and was called Theater of the World. It included more than 50 pages of maps of places around the world, which Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius likened to a stage where human life played out Found at http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/09/mapping-how-shakespeare-saw-the-world/500786 ..read more